Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Literary prizes

In November six novels were shortlisted for the twenty-fifth Finlandia Prize for Fiction, to be awarded on 4 December.

A jury appointed by the Finnish Book Foundation chose the following novels out of a hundred entries: 14 solmua Greenwichiin (‘14 knots to Greenwich’, Otava) by Olli Jalonen, Kosmonautti (‘The cosmonaut’, Tammi) by Katri Lipson, Marie (Otava; see Books from Finland 2/2008) by Arne Nevanlinna, Puhdistus (‘Purge’, WSOY) by Sofi Oksanen, Kohtuuttomuus (‘Excess’, WSOY; see page 281) by Pirkko Saisio and Paholaisen haarukka (‘The Devil’s fork’) by Juha Seppälä.

The jury consisted of Anna Kuismin, the director of the literary archive of the Finnish Literature Society, the writer and critic Karo Hämäläinen and professor Saara Taalas.

The final choice was made by Pekka Tarkka, writer, critic and former Literary Editor of the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. The prize is worth € 30,000, and was first awarded in 1985.

In November, the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, the Helsinki newspaper’s prize for the best first work of the year, worth € 15,000, was awarded to Katri Lipson for her first novel, entitled Kosmonautti (‘The cosmonaut’, Tammi). The jury made their choice out of more than 70 works.

About the writer

Soila Lehtonen is a journalist and theatre critic and the Editor-in-Chief of Books from Finland from 2007 to 2015. She edited a collection of writings about the city of Helsinki together with Hildi Hawkins, Helsinki: a literary companion (The Finnish Literature Society, 2000).